News

News Highlights

Remote bomb detection sensors

Posted on 11/05/2011

Sensors could be used by police

Scientists at King’s College London are embarking on a project to develop a network of state-of-the-art sensors capable of detecting hidden explosives. The sensors will work by detecting the chemical traces of explosive vapours in the air in order to provide early warning to security services and protect vulnerable urban populations from the threat of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), often used by terrorist organizations.

The EU-funded project, Bomb Factory Detection by Networks of Advanced Sensors (BONAS), was brought about in response to the London bombings in 2005, and will see physics and nanomaterials specialists from King’s working with colleagues across Europe, with €4 million split between 12 teams for a four year project. The partnership, led by Italian National Agency for New Technologies, involves scientists from Queen's University of Belfast and a number of other European centres and companies, including the Scientific Police Institute at the University of Lausanne and the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation. The consortium represents the entire chain from basic research to field deployment, in order to guarantee that the networks can be used by security services as soon as they are built.

The King’s team, led by Professor Anatoly Zayats and involving Professor David Richards and Dr Gregory Wurtz from the Department of Physics, will be focusing on a technique called Raman scattering, which involves using lasers to identify the chemical fingerprints of explosives in the air. This technique detects tiny changes in the colour of light when it interacts with molecules.

‘If you shine a laser on to a molecule, you can measure the Raman response,’ said Zayats. ‘At the moment we can do this right down to a single molecule, but the signal strength is too weak for applications outside the research lab.’ The team will employ metal nanostructures in order to enhance the signal, so eventually a sensor can be developed to warn when the concentration of key chemicals in the air reaches a certain threshold.

Zayats hopes that once the network is fully developed, security forces will be able to identify a bomb inside a building or vehicle by sensors monitoring the chemical composition of molecules in the air outside. The sensors, specifically designed to be sensitive and easily hidden, could also be installed in a network to protect high profile public buildings, so as to provide an early warning for police if any traces of explosives are detected. ‘Once the project is finished it will require minimum effort to make it available to the police and security agencies,’ said Zayats.

The contribution from the King’s team, together with a variety of other detection devices being developed across Europe, will enable a broad spectrum of chemicals to be picked up and also prevent false alarms.

‘This project is a perfect example of how the academic and commercial partnership can efficiently use new technologies to make the world a safer place for everyone,' said Zayats. 'We are very excited that our research into nanostructures can contribute to this.’

For more information and illustrations of how the sensors will be deployed please visit the BONAS home page

The aim of BONAS is to design, develop and test a novel wireless sensors network for increasing citizen protection and homeland security against terrorist attacks, in particular against the threat posed by IED devices. The sensor network will focus on the detection of traces of precursors used in IED production (particulates, gases and/or waterborne) present in the environment surrounding the vicinity of a 'bomb factory'. The different sensors are specifically designed to be deployed in sensitive locations and easily camouflaged. This network will support the 'factory's location', allowing an early threat thwart. A feasibility study will assess the usefulness and potential advantages that the BONAS concept will bring about in the future and the costs of mass production of sensor networks integrating COTS components.

BONAS intends also to investigate and prepare the potential future deployment of key sensors aboard a flying platform with a view towards increasing the BONAS network detection capabilities. The wireless sensor network will feature a variety of sensing devices (in-situ and remote), that will jointly provide broad chemical spread and low false alarm rates through an expert system management of the data collected.

In particular, BONAS will develop: Lidar/Dial system; QEPAS sensor; SERS sensor; an Immunosensor. BONAS includes a multidisciplinary team of leading European research groups (ENEA, QUB, CSEM, ONE, UCBL, UNIL, KCL) together with industrial organizations (CREO, LDI, SAB, TEK, EADS) and end-users (NBI) with previous experience and activity in the field of specific local and remote sensors development and with experience on Security projects. The consortium represents the complete supply chain of the proposed product, which sets good perspectives for exploitation and commercialization of the generated innovations. The consortium will be supported by an already established Advisory Board formed by experts from the main European and Israeli police corps.

King's College London

King's College London is one of the top 25 universities in the world (2010 QS international world rankings), The Sunday Times 'University of the Year 2010/11' and the fourth oldest in England. A research-led university based in the heart of London, King's has nearly 23,500 students (of whom more than 9,000 are graduate students) from nearly 140 countries, and some 6,000 employees. King's is in the second phase of a £1 billion redevelopment programme which is transforming its estate.

King's has an outstanding reputation for providing world-class teaching and cutting-edge research. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise for British universities, 23 departments were ranked in the top quartile of British universities; over half of our academic staff work in departments that are in the top 10 per cent in the UK in their field and can thus be classed as world leading. The College is in the top seven UK universities for research earnings and has an overall annual income of nearly £450 million.

King's has a particularly distinguished reputation in the humanities, law, the sciences (including a wide range of health areas such as psychiatry, medicine, nursing and dentistry) and social sciences including international affairs. It has played a major role in many of the advances that have shaped modern life, such as the discovery of the structure of DNA and research that led to the development of radio, television, mobile phones and radar. It is the largest centre for the education of healthcare professionals in Europe; no university has more Medical Research Council Centres.

King's College London and Guy's and St Thomas', King's College Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts are part of King's Health Partners. King's Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre (AHSC) is a pioneering global collaboration between one of the world's leading research-led universities and three of London's most successful NHS Foundation Trusts, including leading teaching hospitals and comprehensive mental health services. For more information, visit: www.kingshealthpartners.org

For further information and images please contact Katherine Barnes, International Press Officer at King’s College London, on 0207 848 3076 or email katherine.barnes@kcl.ac.uk

Rss Feed Atom Feed

News Highlights:

The Florence Nightingale School of Nursing & Midwifery is pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Helen McCutcheon as its new Head of School. Professor McCutcheon currently holds the position of Head of the School of Nursing and Midwifery at the University of South Australia.

People suffering serious mental illness can expect to live up to 18 years less than the national average, according to the latest research from King's Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) for Mental Health.